Dallmayr: Three Centuries of Fine Food
Why is it significant?
On Dienerstraße, stop in front of the grand facade with gilded lettering and royal coats of arms above the doors. If the doors open as you pass, you will catch it at once: the smell of fresh coffee, chocolate and smoked fish, all at the same time.
Key Facts
| Place | Dallmayr: Three Centuries of Fine Food |
|---|---|
| Address | Dienerstraße 14, 80331 München, Germany |
| Geo Coordinates | 48.13830, 11.57730 |
| Part of Walk | Salt, Beer and Pretzels: A Food Lover's Walk Through Munich's Old Town |
| Generated | Generated |
On Dienerstraße, stop in front of the grand facade with gilded lettering and royal coats of arms above the doors. If the doors open as you pass, you will catch it at once: the smell of fresh coffee, chocolate and smoked fish, all at the same time.
This is Dallmayr, the most famous delicatessen in Munich. Its roots go back to 1700, when a grocer's shop was founded in the town. It took its present name from Alois Dallmayr, who ran it from 1870, and at the end of the nineteenth century it passed to the merchant Anton Randlkofer, who turned it into something much grander. The Randlkofer family's descendants still own it today.
Under them, Dallmayr became a purveyor to the Bavarian royal court, and its reputation spread to courts across Europe. Imagine Munich around 1900: a city of kings, painters and brewers, and here, behind these doors, was the world. Tropical fruit, lobsters, caviar, delicacies that most people in the city had never even seen. Look inside at the coffee counter: the beans are still weighed out from big painted porcelain jars, more like an apothecary than a shop.
Notice the contrast with the place you started this morning. Out at the market, the Standlfrauen sell radishes and sausage to everyone. Here, behind gilded lettering, the same city once bought its luxuries. Munich has always had both stomachs, the plain one and the extravagant one, and it is proud of each.
There is a reason the shop sits on this street. Dienerstraße runs alongside the town hall, a stone's throw from the royal palace, and this quarter was where court officials and wealthy citizens shopped for centuries. Buy a small bag of coffee or a chocolate if you like... it is the cheapest way to feel like a royal supplier's customer. Then walk north, through Theatinerstraße and on towards Brienner Straße, where our last stop is waiting with cake.